Students enjoy a week of reading and fun with Dr. Seuss

“You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read with a child.” Dr. Seuss

Beginning March 1, children all over the United States celebrated Dr. Seuss’ 109th birthday by picking up a book and reading.

With a week full of activities, Chester Elementary School students joined in on the celebration March 1 through March 11.

According to its website, the National Education Association has sponsored the “Read Across America” event for 16 years as a way to motivate children and teens in every community to celebrate reading March 2, the birthday of cherished children’s author Dr. Seuss.

“Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers. Research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school,” stated nea.org.

With help from CES’s Parent and Teacher Association, employees and local volunteers, Read Across America week was a stimulating success in Chester.

Mrs. Delucchi’s kindergarten class plays with green gooey oobleck during Chester Elementary School’s Dr. Seuss activity week. According to one of the parent volunteers, the oobleck was made using two cups cornstarch to one cup water and adding a little green food coloring. Photo by Samantha P. Hawthorne

Each classroom participated by reading Dr. Seuss books throughout the week and hosting its own Seuss-based activities.

Every day of the week provided a slew of entertainment and education with a focus on reading.

Throughout the week, each class enjoyed a variety of Dr. Seuss books and dramatic readings performed by different visitors. There were readings from retired teachers, school employees, Rotarians, high schoolers and business people.

To get children pumped up, Dr. Seuss rhymes and decorations were plastered throughout the school, including a “Dr. Seuss dreamscape” in the library.

CES kitchen manager Mary Beth Carlson served green eggs and ham for lunch Monday, March 4. Every student who ate the meal was eligible to be entered into a giveaway to win a Dr. Seuss book each day of the week.

Throughout the week, CES music accompanist Lori Metcalf taught each class the Dr. Seuss song “Let Us All Sing.” Every student in kindergarten through sixth grade performed the newly learned song during the March 11 Monday morning meeting. When teaching the song to the second-grade class, Metcalf told them how quickly the other students learned the song and how much fun the kindergartners had singing it.

During Thursday morning stations, Mrs. Delucchi’s kindergarten class had the chance to get messy with their homemade green and gooey oobleck — based from the book “Bartholomew and the Oobleck.”

The kids loved dipping their hands in the sticky goo and many commented that it felt good in between their fingers.

Each student was then given a gift-wrapped Dr. Seuss book from the Rotary Club of Chester.

On Friday, the second-grade class created a timeline using the life and achievements of Dr. Seuss, along with help from the fourth-grade class. Students also had a lesson on writing style and poetry.

As is customary for Mr. Goolsby’s third-grade class, the students learned to cook during Friday morning stations. This time, however, they learned to cook with a Dr. Seuss twist — “Cat in the Hat” parfaits were on the menu and in their mouths as soon as they finished preparing the dessert. Each student copied the recipe onto a sheet of paper, which will be added to the individual cookbooks and brought home at the end of the school year.

Aside from helping the second-graders with their Dr. Seuss timelines, Mrs. Crowther’s fourth-graders also conducted a “buddy read” with the lower classmen and memorized lines from their favorite Dr. Seuss books.

Mrs. Birdsall’s fifth-grade class learned to write persuasively and each student wrote an essay to try to persuade the audience as to who is the best Dr. Seuss character.

On Tuesday, Mrs. Furtado let her sixth-grade students relax in pajamas and cuddle up with a pillow while retired teacher and historian Marilyn Quadrio read her book of choice to the class. The rest of the afternoon the students were allowed to read any book of their choosing.

Mrs. Hunter’s opportunity class learned about tolerance for others through the book “The Sneeches.”

The importance of reading was well-displayed throughout the school and the students’ smiling faces was proof of how much they enjoyed a week packed with reading. Dr. Seuss said it best when he wrote, “You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read with a child.”